![Wilowrid Advertisement](https://s3.amazonaws.com/blog.wilowrid.com/ads.webp)
Years ago at work , I found two broken Ds lights in the trash .
Instantly .
My first thought was , could I Frankenstein them together into a working one ?
Somehow .
My mad science venture didn't end in tragedy .
From this beginning .
A beautifully cobbled together DS things have come full circle with this quartet .
Items also made from DS lights designed by and yet not designed by Nintendo .
At the same time , design of things .
33 Game Boy Macro to get here .
We need a bit of history , history that will put this design in context .
2004 according to USA today , Facebook being founded was the most important event of this year who people , well , most importantly for our purposes , this is Nintendo Ds , the replacement of the legendary iconic Game Boy series .
A marked departure .
A bit of an oddity , a gamble on dual screens that turned out to be even more successful than the Game Boy Line .
When millions of devices are in the hands of millions of users , they get tested to the core and weaknesses are always found .
This is especially true for game consoles that easily receive thousands of hours of direct user contact , we grubby oily hands for the DS standing for dual screens .
The screens hinge was the weak point making durable hinges is always difficult in the DS lights case , there are also fragile ribbon cables running up to the speakers and top screen .
The result .
Well , top screens often broke as I enjoy fixing things .
I amassed a bin full of DS lights with screen issues .
One awesome feature of the DS is its compatibility with Gameboy advanced games , which of course require only one screen .
Well , you see where I'm going the Gameboy Macro because it resembled the Game Boy micro , just a bit larger .
There are many guides online for making one of these .
So using my parts , I decided to create as many different Gameboy macros as I could each trying out some different techniques .
I started this learning process with the parts of about five different broken Nintendo Ds lites to make it possible to boot up the device with only a bottom screen .
The secret is to make the DS think it has an upper screen when the user turns the console on as part of its diagnostic checks .
The DS confirms that the upper L CD is drawing current .
If it detects this , it can pass the diagnostic check and boot up .
So we just solder in a 350 ohm resistor between these two points to trick the DS light into thinking it has an upper screen , the added resistance does the trick .
After that , we have two problems to solve .
One , there are no speakers in the bottom half .
So we need to solder one in then find a space for it .
In the case two , the other problem is mostly cosmetic .
We now have this unseemly leftover hinge on the top to solve the latter .
I decided to play with some different methods .
The most simple was just cut sand down and paint , uh amateur spray paint job .
Aside , this seemed to work pretty well .
The color scheme is a lovely silver and light blue and because it is the original face plate , everything just fits together nicely .
I filled the holes with little 3D printed plugs here and on the back , the second involved a little filling with polyester putty sanding and painting .
It's nice overall .
Despite some rough edges , the hole in the left side , I filled with a little grill plug , the orange and blue U VA color scheme .
Wow , beautiful .
Next , I tried using the face plate again this time filling the whole top but ended up with this kind of lumpy gameboy , macro teal and black though , looks beautiful .
Lastly , I tried 3D printing a bunch of different versions .
As you can see , I went through a lot .
Some versions were designed to be cut using AC NC mill , not an inaccurate consumer grade cheap 3D printer , but the printer did a respectable job after some duds , one of which I used for much needed spray painting , practice abomination .
These two designs turned out to be my favorites .
It was really difficult to send out the layers made by the 3D printer .
In this case , I never really got it quite right .
Some deeper grooves were created by problems with the mesh of the 3D model .
I'm not working on some new versions which I'll properly send and fill in .
One thing I learned through the process is just how precisely designed hardware really is small inaccuracies in the 3D models made it really hard to get a good fit between Nintendo made back and the 3D printed front panel .
No matter what model I used , it required a lot of sanding , cutting and modification .
One to get the buttons to fit and feel good and two to get the face plate to fit with the back for the best looking Gameboy Macro .
You could also pick up a face plate from boxy pixel , but at $50.50 dollars , it kind of defeats the purpose of the mod which is taking broken things and making something work at next to no cost anyways , it's time to take a look .
Now at the overall design , the design of a Nintendo console that Nintendo never designed no matter which version , the rounded back plate and slim body make it a joy to hold .
It's a great size as well .
Perfect for throwing into a bag or pocket .
The major upgrades here one , the rechargeable battery and two more important , the bright clear backlit L CD screen is incredible .
The only caveat here is that the full real estate of the DS screen isn't used as the DS screen has a different resolution from the Gameboy advance .
It's truly an impressive little device .
Yeah , there are little quirks mostly from my inexperience with modding , unseemly lumps holes , a sprinkling of jake .
But all the trial and error learning new skills , learning from failure made the project a lot of fun .
In the end .
I have something truly custom wholly my own that cost at most a couple bucks for some paint and tiny resistors .
I also feel like I have a better understanding of the DS hardware and hardware in general .
It's awesome to see how everything was carefully engineered to fit together , make assembly easy and provide a good experience for the user .
Until next time on design of things .